Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-09
APARDOH DENIED sMlYM.
AetiOn i'm His Case by Governor Lee
HpStprdaV

Governor Lee yesterday disposed OF
| the case Of William Il. Smith by de
clining to interfere with the sentence OF
the Hastings Court Therefore Smith
will be sent TO the penitentiary, to which
place he has been sentenced for two
years.
Smith was for about twenty years q
clerk, occupying an exceedingly re-
sponsible position in the Office OF the
Auditor Of Public Accounts In No
vember, 1891, it was discovered that for
years he had been appropriating to his
own use money paid to him to be
turned into the treasury Of the Com
mOnwealth.
A legislative committee appointed to
investigate his conduct asceitained that
not less than $4,000 was unaccounted
for.
Smiths methods were exceedingly
clumsy. Any real investigation of the
books of the Office would have exposed
him. But he was n man of high cha
ractcr, of excellent family connections,
and of unusual intelligence, and was
trusted and leaned on by all. Though
not so in name, he was in fact the chief
clerk of the Office, and retained his
place under several different Auditors.
1t can hardly be doubted that when
first he commenced his bad practices he
intended to return the money very soon;
but year by year he grew more daring,
until at last bis crimes came to light.
II WAS a long time before he was put on
trial. When at last he was brought to
trial for the larceny of Sll1.50, paid
him for the State by the weighmaster OF
the public scales at Richmond, he was
found guilty and sentenced to two
years in the penitentiary. Then cap
pealed to each of the five judges of the
Supreme Court of Appeals for writ
of error, and each judge refused it.
Meanwhile his health, which was bad
when he was arrested, grew worse. His
weight fell from 2G0 TO 100 pounds. 4
surgical operation TO relieve his pains
brought him but partial relief. Seye
raj surgeons and physicians represented
to the Governor that his trouble was
beyond human skill, and that impri-
sonment would hasten death. So the
Governor asked Judge Atkins to keep
Smith in jail until he (the Governor
could look into the case, and Judge
Atkins did SO.
The Governors conclusion is that the
law should be executed.
st the penitentiary Smith can 60 i'll
the hospital and receive better atten-
ton and infinitely more quiet than it is
possible for him to get in Jail. More
than that: II the surgeon there certi
fies that Smiths disease is incurable (as |
no Doubt isl, and that confnementwill |
precipitate death, then, under the rules
which have long obtained at the Ex
ecutive Office, he will be pardoned.
Fifteen friendless negro convicts have
been pardoned by Governor Lee on
just such certificates.
Smith is certain to he pardoned under
this rule, but to save him from the
degradation of the penitentiary his
friends strove nightly with the Gov
enOr.
The Governors profoundest sympa-
thies were aroused for the prisoners
wife and relatives and connections, but
his duty, as he understood it, forced
him to deny her petition.
DR.. Lewis Wheat, the physician to
the city jail, where Smith has keen
confined in an upper room for more than
two years, was asked yesterday if the
prisoner was in condition TO be re-
moved to the penitentiary to-day. He
'aid that he did not know that Smith
bas his own physician and that he CDR.
Wheat had never yet seen him. 4